Call on North Las Vegas to Subsidize its New Mandatory Spay/Neuter Law

The city of North Las Vegas, a suburb of Las Vegas in Clark County, Nevada, has adopted a mandatory spay/neuter law. It is now a crime to have a pet 4 months of age or older that is not sterilized and can be punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a fine up to $1,000.

There are exceptions for licensed breeders, permitted animal fanciers and animals a veterinarian says should not have the surgery for medical reasons.

This community of more than 200,000 people does not plan aggressive enforcement at least at first. Al Noyola, assistant director or police services, has reportedly said enforcement will be on "the honor system". The city plans an education campaign to tell people about the importance of spay/neuter.

The city’s primary goal is to reduce the numbers of unwanted animals that end up in Lied Shelter, a large animal shelter the city of North Las Vegas as well as Las Vegas and Clark County contract with to shelter, care for and place or dispose of unwanted or aggressive animals.

But there is no indication the city hasÂ plans to subsidize or offer free or low cost spay/neuter. Lied Shelter no longer offers low cost spay/neuter though it is available in the area.

Will it work?

There is no doubt spay/neuter is the most successful means of reducing numbers of animals that end up in public shelters, usually doomed to death. In 2007 Lied is reported to have taken in about 49,200 animals and euthanized about 26,500. (It is not clear these numbers are accurate and may be higher.) In 2006 Lied took in about 52,000 animals and euthanized about 24,000 of them.

It is estimated more than 75 times each day Lied euthanizes an animal. And, Lied is actually euthanizing animals much sooner now after intake. Last year overcrowding contributed to an outbreak of disease and over 1000 animals were euthanized. Since then, the shelter’s philosophy has been to euthanize animals after an average stay of 6 days, down from 12.

The law is likely to prompt many people to spay/neuter their pets. There is low cost spay/neuter available to some extent in the Las Vegas area. But, without free or low cost spay/neuter that is readily available, it is not clear the mandatory law will work to reduce significantly the numbers of unwanted animals that end up at Lied. Certainly, the law will be difficult to enforce and could substantially not only divert but also increase animal control costs.

Also, studies have shown a mandatory spay/neuter law can mean fewer people license their pets, resulting in fewer animal control dollars and greater incidents of rabies and other diseases from animals whose owners fail to comply with licensing and vaccination requirements.

The burden of a mandatory law like this falls on low and moderate income pet owners. Without free, low cost and even moderate cost pay/neuter, many people are unlikely to be able to afford to spay/neuter animals and may simply dump them at least in the initial period following passage of the law.Â

The new law will do nothing to stop breeding by for profit breeders, puppy and cat millers that are exempt from the requirements. It is estimated 25-30% or more of animals that end up in shelters are produced by for profit breeders.

The law will also not affect feral cats, of which there is a high number in the Las Vegas area. It is estimated that feral or at least frightened, unsocialized cats make up a large percentage of animals euthanized in a public shelter and Lied is no exception.

It is hoped that Las Vegas and Henderson, another suburb, as well as Clark County will also adopt a mandatory law. Clark County is considering a law to require spay/neuter of dogs or cats repeatedly picked up by animal control officers. At least such a law is targeted to those animals likely to end up in shelters.

Call on North Las Vegas to set up a free or low cost spay/neuter fund that would be subsidized by the city or work with Las Vegas, Henderson and Clark County to implement an area free or low cost spay/neuter fund. Call on these officials to give spay/neuter a real chance to reduce shelter intake numbers by helping pay for it! Also urge them to approve Trap Neuter Return programs to spay/neuter rather than simply euthanize feral cats. (For more on TNR, click here.)

Have u ever seen how many unwanted and untamed animals r put to death daily or yearly because of breeding outside is out of control. How many puts are turned in daily by pet owners who dont want them? What happens to that cut kitten or puppy that does not sell at the pet store?

Answer most if not all of these animals are put to death because the population is out of control.

I don’t have any links handy, but there are some articles about how the city of Los Angeles’ MSN is about to bankrupt the city. Also, the state of CA finance department did a report last year about how the state could not afford MSN. You should be able to find those by doing a search on the internet.

I’ve been involved in rescue for over 25 years. The biggest problem with pets being euthanized in shelters is irresponsible pet owners and feral cats. We do not have an overpopulation of young puppies and kittens, shelters are not euthanizing large quantities of puppies and baby kittens. Shelters have an abundance of older pups/kittens and adult pets, that were dumped by irresponsible people. People who didnâ€™t do their research before they bought that cute pup, then dump the pup 6 months later because itâ€™s too active. People who werenâ€™t committed to training the animal and willing to deal with behavioral issues. People who think pets are disposable.

In areas that have passed MSN laws, shelter intake and euthanization numbers go through the roof. Please do your research before jumping on the MSN bandwagon.

I called Las Vegas Valley Humane Society and they gave me a referral to West Charleston Animal Hospital. They also gave me a code to give to them for a discount. I just got off the phone with West Charleston and I have a BAD case of sticker shock!! **$188.00** to get a male 6 pound chihuahua neutered!!! If Las Vegas REALLY wanted us to “fix” our animals, they wouldn’t make us choose between buying groceries and neutering our pets!!! I didn’t even ask how much it would cost to spay my 4 pound chi. Maybe I should let them mate, sell the pups, and and then I MIGHT be able to afford the ridiculous price to get them fixed. Oh, and by the way…I’m told $188.00 is a pretty good deal!!! Las Vegas sucks when it comes to pet care AND auto insurance.

Harold Vosko of HCWS and Karen Layne of LVVHS lied like Persian rugs to get the NLV MSN law to pass. We were able to stop them from passing a county wide MSN. They do NOT deserve our donations. They need to be held accountable for their stupidity.
Altogether these para shelter groups have spayed about 30,000 animals in the last ten years. One good Vet could do that in a year and a half at 1/50th the cost to our community.
Sunrise Vet Hospital at Eastern and the 93, their main spay facility for the last 9 years, is a dump. .

great idea. the only problem being that people will not license their pets… well i beleive that breeders should not be able to attain a breeding license unless they agree to have each puppy spayed/neutered.. otherwise the breeder should be fined and thrown in jail. Either give your bred puppies to responsible pet owners who agree to spaying/neutering or get fined. I understand that breeders do not normally have their puppies for 4 months in order to get them spayed and neutered but in order for the puppy to go to a new home, they should have to be registered with their city!

wow… are you serious? OF COURSE THE GOVT IS TELLING US WHAT TO DO! would u like to take a guess at why????? PEOPLE ARE STUPID AND SELFISH! obviously people are not understanding that millions of animals are being put to death because of their stupidity so of course government has to regulate it. Just like government has laws in place such as if you murder someone, you go to jail. otherwise, a lot of people would be dead if there were no consequences. do u really trust people to make the right decision??? i dont, and with good reason

I totally agree with you! Just like the Government to rule not only our lives, but our dog’s lives also! I rescued my dog off 95 North bound in August two years ago. At that time he was six months old and the vet I took him to the very next morning advised me to put him down, that he was going to die anyway. I brought him in for shots and shots only! I refused the advise from this asshole and took him home. Since then he has been a model dog! The best I’ve ever had the pleasure of owning! Today he is a healthy, beautiful Boxer/Basset mix and not netured. He has his own yard out here with me in Indian Springs, and is on a leash when we take walks. I’ll be DAMNED if the Government is going to tell me that I’ll serve jail time and a $1000.00 fine if I don’t do as I’m told! I never even had to house train the beautiful boy, and he has never done anything in my home! My neighbors comment on how well behaved he is, and they think I bathe him all the time because his coat is so shiney you can see you’re self in it! He gets a bath 2 maybe 3 times a year, is on a good diet, and is in great health! I am on unemployment and have been since Oct. 31st in 2008. I do not have the money they want to extort from me to have this proceedure done! While we are all struggling just to pay our bills and keep food on the table and in our dog’s food dish, Goverment deems that we MUST do as we are told! I feel very BLESSED to have this baby in my life! If it wasn’t for FREEWAY I would probably be dead by now! I saved his life, and he has saved mine. Why don’t they punish the people that are irresponsible!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s NOT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know one thing, Freeway will not end up in a shelter!!!! The Government can go F**&&^%$ themselves!!!!!!!!!!